Roger Miret

The name Roger Miret may not be familiar to most, but he is one of the most interesting people to ever emerge from the New York music scene. As the singer with the legendary hardcore band Agnostic Front he has influenced generations of bands, released some classic albums and become one of the icons of a global movement. He's planning to write a book on his three-decades-plus experiences in music, but before that he's playing Dublin on Monday, 10 August. Here he talks about the way New York used to be, the life he's chosen and why he's stilling doing what he does in his mid-forties.

To me New York is the true capital of the United States, but now it's just all boutiques and models - a fashion show.
If you were to go to New York City and walk the Lower East Side and try to relate to my songs [from the 1980s] you'd be like 'What is this guy talking about? This is nice.' It just doesn't make sense any more. But luckily and good for me I have it all stored in my mind because that's the old New York - the New York I love, the New York that had a mystique to it.

New York had this amazing feel and culture and music and art - the film 'Taxi Driver' really nailed how it used to be. It's nothing like that anymore.
Now you go to 42nd Street it's Disneyland. It's safer, which makes it more enjoyable for people who come visit, I guess, but I think it just took the real core out of New York. That danger and that life thing I loved about it so much are gone.

Music has always been in my life.
The music that was always in my house was Latin music. And Motown was always huge in my house and I went right from Motown right to punk rock. It was quite a change, quite a surprise. I lived in New Jersey on a street called Jackson Street and the back yard to my street was a place called the Capitol Theatre where all these bands would play. My Dad and I used to park cars and make extra money and then we were able to see the concert from the backyard because the backstage was all open. That's where I saw the Clash for the first time - I was just this little kid. And I got introduced to that style of music from there. I was probably 14.

I played in four bands prior to Agnostic Front.
We were just youth running wild and we wanted to express ourselves. It was different years, different times. Ronald Regan was coming into the presidency and there was a lot to talk about. It was just really gathering with friends and finding people with the same things in common as myself. Today it's a little more common - you can just meet these same peers in school and stuff like that. People worry [now] about shows ending early because kids have to go back to school and get up early and trains close. Our show didn't even start until 2 or 3 in the morning. We were out all night and slept during the day because there wasn't a punk show that would start until 2 or 3 in the morning.

I have no idea how many gigs I've played.
It's in the thousands. The most bizarre gig I think I ever played was on our very first tour in the US. On that tour it was the first and only time we ever played a Bar Mitzvah. For the weirdest reason some lady hired us to play her son's Bar Mitzvah. We were his favourite band. We had no idea. We showed up, for us it was a gig - the highest paying gig - and here we were playing to a bunch of old folks and five kids. Anyone asks me 'Have you ever played a wedding?' 'No, but I've played a Bar Mitzvah.'

Back in the 1980s, all punk gigs were scary.
First of all society didn't accept you and didn't know you. It wasn't cute to have blue, spiked hair and jump around and scream in a band. That wasn't cute, that was actually offensive. When people saw a person with a shaved head or any tattoos automatically they were looked at as a degenerate, misfit or outcast. It was just dangerous anyway going to a show or going to a gig. Someone always wanted to laugh at you or say something to you.

None of these gigs were in any safe areas - they were always in ghettoes or the worst part of the neighbourhood.
So you had to walk in your freakish outfit through a bunch of crazy people. There were a lot of gangs at shows and people would fight. It was always very violent. People didn't understand each other: it was always the punks against the skins. A lot of that doesn't exist today. That's one thing I like about today is that you can go to a show and actually enjoy yourself instead of going to a show and worrying about watching your back and what's going to happen.

If you talk to just about anyone of my age group or bands from when [back] we started, we pretty much all got ripped off by the music industry.
We just didn't know what was going on. We were just enjoying what we were doing. And because we were so naive and into what we were doing we don't any of the business aspects of it. I remember signing a contract for the universe and laughing, saying "What Martian is going to buy this?' Meanwhile they were fast-forwarding to today - what they meant was the Internet, sharing music over satellites. We were kids, we didn't know that. These record companies and people, they knew what the hell they were doing. It [money] isn't everything. We've always been a true underground band and we have a really strong underground following. At times it's just thousands at times it's just hundreds but they're solid. It's a good crowdbase to have - people who are real, genuine and who love you.

I've had quite an adventure, quite a life.
I look at it all as a learning experience. Everything had to happen to get me where I am today. I learned harshly. I've seen a lot of friends come and go. I've seen people die. I've seen a lot of crazy things. I could've had a different life, of course, but I chose the one I chose. I chose not to go to High School or college but my diploma is our first album. Other people have degrees or doctorates or masters. I'm very happy I did it that way. I got to travel the world, I got to meet great people worldwide, to experience things from all of the places I got to see things that I thought I would never see - things that a lot of people don't even know about. It opened my mind to so much stuff.

Unfortunately I had to go through jail to realise that you can't take life for granted.
It was always about me, me, me. I didn't care about anything or anyone else. I took life for granted. Until I realised I was starting to put other people in pain - my own family. They suffered because of me. I was fine. I could do time. I could do as much time as they gave me. But your mother or brothers and sisters don't know that. I realised that I was very selfish and that I needed to grow up. I was 24-years-old at the time. I had a baby girl, she was a year-and-half and it was time to step up. And that's what I did. I knew when I was out that was it. It takes a lot of willpower. You've got to want to do it, you've got to want to make the change - and that's [the same] with anything.

We are getting older, but this has been our life for way longer than some of these kids have ever existed.
The secret to Agnostic Front's longevity is that we have always been genuine and real. You put us on stage next to a lot of these bands and you can actually see the difference, hear the difference and feel the difference. This is the real deal, whether someone gets older or not. Why should I stop doing something I adore? I'll stop whenever I'm ready to stop and whenever I feel it's given up on me. As long as there's a demand and a feel for us we'll always be here. And even when I'm long dead somebody will pick up 'Victim in Pain' and it will sound as fresh to them as it did to someone 25 years ago.

Roger Miret was talking to Harry Guerin. Agnostic Front play The Scene, South King Street, Dublin on Monday, 10 August. Tickets, priced €20, are available on the door.